Evaluation and training of yes–no responding across verbal operants.

M. Alice Shillingsburg, Michael E. Kelley, Henry S. Roane, April Kisamore, & Melissa R. Brown. (2009). Evaluation and training of yes–no responding across verbal operants. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42, 209-223.

Topographically similar verbal responses may be functionally independent forms of operant behavior. For example, saying yes or no may have different functions based on the environmental conditions in effect. The present study extends previous research on both the assessment and acquisition of yes and no responses across contexts in children with language deficits and further examined the functional independence of topographically similar responses. All participants in the present study acquired yes and no responses within verbal operants (e.g., mands). However, generalization of the responses across novel verbal operants (e.g., tacts to intraverbals) did not occur without additional training, thus supporting Skinner’s (1957) assertion of functional independence of verbal operants.

DESCRIPTORS: functional independence, intraverbal, language acquisition, verbal operants, yes–no responding